front-runner. >> donald trump is a phony, a fraud. >> and donald trump erupts. >> i'll tell you the real reason he chickened out, it wasn't jeb, it was me. >> a leading presidential candidate said this. >> he was begging for my endorsement. i could have said, mitt, drop to your knees. >> the absolute chaos in the republican primary. what to expect at tonight's debate. "all in" starts right now.

tonight with the window to stop trump closing fast, the candidates are poised to completely tear each other apart. that's also what the republican party is threatening to do to itself. except donald trump as the nominee or take the fight to the convention in cleveland. a move that could result in the total collapse of the republican party. mitt romney took a step in that direction putting on a display i don't think i've seen before. party's previous nominee condemning in the absolute strongerest, the candidate to succeed him. painting trump to the threat of the very survival of the republic. >> if we choose donald trump, the prospect for a safe and prosperous future are

diminished. he's a phony, a fraud. his promises are worthless as a degree from trump university. his domestic policies would lead to recession. his foreign policies would make america and the world less safe. he has never the temperament nor the judgment to be president. his personal qualities would mean that america would cease to be a shining city on a hill. >> mitt romney knew his speech would be like waving a red cape in front of bull. >> watch how he responds to my speech today. will he attack me with every imaginable low road insult. this may tell you what you need know about his temperament, his stability and his suitability to be president. >> appearing on a campaign stop in maine a couple of hours later, trump did respond to mitt romney. if you thought he would take the high road, you'd be terribly, terribly wrong.

>> mitt is a failed candidate. he failed horribly. i backed him. you can see how loyal he is. he was begging for my endorsement. i would have said drop to your knees. he was begging. he was begging me. >> romney showed more than a little tone deafness. he called him very, very not smart and accused him of lacking decorum. he did succeed on landing a few punches on trump university. that attack managed to put trump on defense. >> they did a commercial. they took it down where two people were saying negative and we showed them the state they wrote. they had to take the commercial down. 98% of the people that took the courses said wonderful things about it.

>> as of so many of his assertions it's truly unfair if that has any basis if reality. there was one thing missing. a explanation for his own role in legitimizing and elevating donald trump in the republican party. this is the moment trump was referring to when romney collected his endorsement in 2012 at a time when trump was saying things like this about president obama's birth certificate. >> the tampered with according to many, many people. you have grandmothers and you have people in this family that say he wasn't born in this country. okay. forgetting all of that, do i think he was born here. i have no idea. >> the republican leaders fail to grapple with their own party, they don't have stand out chance of being able to destroy them. the only real option left for stopping him, a contested

convention might end up destroying the republican party instead. according to calculations by nbc news, the way the delegate math is likely to shake out, donald trump appears to be the only candidate with a clear path. this is the magic number it takes to win out right. 1,237. even if he's blocked from reaching that, he's likely to walk into the con where she thinks the most delegates in july. you can imagine what kind of hell would break loose if party elders tried to overrule the choice. according to one report, that's what mitt romney is thinking about doing. is this a breaking point for the republican party if they were to succeed in stopping trump from getting the nomination or if he got the nomination and significant elements of the party, governors, senators, members of congress said they would not vote for him.

does that mean the end of the republican party in. >> this whole election has been such a phenomenal different thing that we have ever seen in my lifetime. >> i agree. >> it's gotten completely out of control. bottom line is i believe that we should get behind whoever wins the primary and take them to our convention and nominate him and send him out and let the people decide. >> there are people who say the reason they wouldn't do that is because donald trump is essentially a con man and a fraud, a racist, a demagogue who has veered completely off the track. i want to read you something that a former personal aid of mitt romney tweeted. he said i recorded a lot of real donald trump. better hope he didn't record him tell us to use birther arguments because right wing craies will believe it. what do you respond to that?

>> i had a hard time hearing you. in fact, i couldn't hear you. >> you have mitt romney's former personal aid saying he was in the room when donald trump said to mitt romney they should use the birther argument because right wing crazies will believe it. >> there's so much he said, she said, they said, we say. everybody's weighing in on this. everybody is an expert. there's so much going on and so very, very difficult for anybody out in the public, the real people. it should be making this decision to base their information on. bottom line is donald trump is leading in the polls. i think he's going to carry it over the top. i don't think it will be a

brokered convention. i hope that people will vote and vote their conscience and do what's right. the people of america are fed up with the federal government not doing their job and not protecting the people, the citizens who elected them into place where is they are at. right now we have fighter. someone that will stand up and fight back and change the direction. this whole election and today, in particular, is the essence of the old saying that republicans eat their own. if we don't get our act together and calm down and let this thing play out legitimately, our party is on a down slide. >> governor, you just talked about people being sick and tired of the federal government not protecting them. i think that's a reference to immigration. a reference to donald trump's infamous plan to build a wall and get mexico to pay for it. do you have an explanation why this issue is so front and center that net immigration into this country is the lowest it's been in probably 20 years. >> i don't think a lot of us agree with that. the bottom line is we know since

this election is coming forth, we have more people crossing the arizona boarder than we ever had. people are afraid the border will get secured and not going to sit back. now everybody is making the run for it. >> you don't believe the statistics? >> no. >> you don't think it's true? >> no, absolutely not. arizona is the gateway for this illegal immigration. we pay the price for it. we are what appears to be the funnel into america. then we have to accept all the costs with the people that are coming for work. we have to pay the education, the incarceration, health care. we have to put up with the heroin that's being through the drop houses, sex trafficking, extortion. it goes on and on. let me just say this, the

majority of the people not only in america but every else, i believe, country without borders is a house would walls. it just collapses. >> we haven't collapsed. we do have borders. >> that's many of us that think we are collapsing. it's not america anyone. >> what does that mean, not america anymore? >> everything's out of control. no one is listening to the public. no one is listening to the citizens. no one is paying attention to the mom and dad at home. >> let me ask you a final question. does it give you pause when you see figures like david duke and white nationalists doing robo calls endorsing donald trump. >> yes, yes, yes. >> does that make you think you're backing the wrong one? >> no. we all know that david duke and the ku klux klan is pathetic. it's repulsive and bad. >> they agree with you on the wall.

>> so what. >> fair enough. former governor jan brewer. i appreciate you coming on. >> thank you. >> i'm joined by joan walsh. you're not sold. >> i was not sold. i think he's the fraud. talk about a fraud. mitt romney did more personally to legitimatize donald trump as a figure in the republican party than anybody i can think of. when he went to trump tower he was competing with newt gingrich who would have been a better fit. >> who looks like will endorse trump. his tweeter feed is an indication. >> when did trump tower become a stop on the republican campaign trail like the reagan library. when did that happen and why did that happen?

only because this man became the birther in chief and started attacking the president in the most disgusting and racial terms. that made him a power house in the republican party. that helps propel him. he was a front-runner for a while in 2011 and mitt decided i need to get some of that. >> he said he begged for all these things. we flew out to vegas and it was a small little thing. >> they can say that but he raised money. the point is what romney did for trump. then we have him as the front-runner in 2016. he's crying. i feel that donald trump was to mitt romney what david duke is to donald trump, which is a gateway toward those anxious obama hating white, some of them racist, voters that this party has not been able to quip. lots of good people say we need

to broaden the base, bring in latinos and stop scaring the women. they go back to that white, working class, somewhat racist base. that's why you saw donald trump sit there with jake tapper and not want to immediately denounce david duke. he doesn't want to turn off that audience immediately. then he did say it on twitter and he said his ear piece was broken. he wants to play as close to that crowd as he can. mitt romney did the same thing. >> have you seen any -- there's some people who has been wrietsing. there's something admirable about the movement. not loyalty above all us. have you seen the level of

grappling with what created the trump phenomenon? >> no, of course not. there's a bit of a recognition. it was kind of hypocritical. mitt romney quoted ronald reagan's famous a time for choosing speech when he was tell ing barry goldwater to reject. he drove the party in this direction when he discovered working class whites were riled up about civil rights. he said we're going to go hunting where the ducks are. he took his party where the ducks were. mitt romney did the same thing in 2012.

donald trump has a lot of ducks. they're kind of jealous of his ducks. >> i also thought it was a perfect moment in american politics where mitt romney, who was a business magnate who was governor and ran for president. he was knocking donald trump for harassing his father's business. still to come, the preview of the republican debate that's down to four candidates. the common refrain from candidates on both side. tonight an example that includes dnc chair. later, we did some digging into what happened earlier this week at a trump rally when over two dozen black students were forced to leave. their story and more, ahead.

mocking the supremely awkward stages of super tuesday press conference with governor chris christie standing behind trump with an basic expression less face. it generate add slew of memes. >> i wasn't being held hostage. no, i wasn't sitting up there thinking what have i done. i want everybody to know. i wasn't being held hostage. i wasn't upset, angry. wasn't anything other than happy and listening to someone give a press conference. >> we, we. happy that we had done so well.

coming up, what to expect as a winnowed republican field takes the debate stage.

sean hannity appeared to turn against a republican candidate he claims to have always liked. senator marco rubio. >> inthere's influence coming from outside. i think he's being fed this. probably promised a lot of money. i don't think this is the marco we have known. to me, it's almost like a kamakazee mission. i've always liked him. you don't think there's back door meetings and smoke filled meetings.

i think this is orchestrated, well funded and well organized. >> what is interesting about this is a piece in new york magazine claiming rubio has lost support of fox news. according to three fox sources, roger ailes said we lost confident. we can't do the rubio thing anymore. despite how neatly the hannity rift seemed to line up, fox news fired back saying there isn't any credence to the story. there is no credence to this narrative. we should add one more element. a tweet by the head that owns fox news. as predicted, trump reaching out to make peace with the republican establishment. if he becomes the party, the party would be unified.

there's another gop debate on fox news. it will be the first time trump and kelly faced each other in which trump claimed he was treated so poorly. we'll see what happens there. some are chanting outside with calls of shut it down and flint lives matter. >> i guess one question is how much is all this orchestrated. it's who is ailes pushing. we know there was this dinner between rubio and ailes. >> he did.

what is your sense of where fox is now with respect to the trump phenomenon? >> fox is facing a rebellion from the far right. there's a perception that fox has opinion propping up rubio. this dprup of people have been rubio's champions. i think ailes is open to the idea of a trump candidacy. i think murdoch was against it. he said it will be trump and they will have to get on board. >> do you think that will color tonight? to me what's been so interesting about this fox-trump thing is the way ailes crafts the

narrative of independence and megyn's tough questions was a branding win. it says, we're independent, we're not in the pocket. >> i think you'll see megyn will be professional. i think she's not going to out wardly antagonize a fight. he's acting like the nominee. it doesn't serve his interest to punch down and pick a feud with a news anchor and having the former republican nominee go after him. having romney pick a fight, there's no reason to side track himself. knowing trump, if she does engage, he's not going to pass up the opportunity. >> i would talk to a bunch of trump voters in vegas, they were allfor telling me we don't trump fox.

>> the audience is down 50%. the ratings are holding. a, we're in an amazing news cycle. all networks are up. if you're a conservative and watch television, you still don't have another option. fox still has a monopoly. the perception they are on the home team is fading. >> to me the murdoch tweet said a lot. it will be total consolidation around trump if he's the nominee 100%. >> two things. we know murdoch likes winners. he's willing to go both ways. if trump will be the nominee, he'll have to get on board because he wants to further the business of news corps and 21st fox. i think that will happen. i know he's impressed by trump's staying power. the guy is a fighter and a winner.

he said they have thrown everything at him and it hasn't worked. that's impressive to murdoch. >> thank you. how donald trump is already positioning himself with a hillary clinton fight with a line to appeal to bernie sanders supporters. i'll explain, next. get one of our right best deals ever.... ....for just $9.99 you can get any large pizza with up to five toppings pile on your favorites with up to five toppings for just $9.99 better ingredients. better pizza. papajohns.com

the real question is was she right to support nafta? was she right to support permanent trade with china? the answer is she was very, very wrong.

millions of families around this country have been suffering as a result of those. >> senator bernie sanders held a press conference where he hit hillary clinton on trade. they called her out sourcer in chief. the sanders campaign did concede she's against the transpacific partnership. clinton only reached that decision because he's running against bernie sanders for president. broadly the economic record of the obama administration if she were to eventually become the nominee and run against the other current front-runner, donald trump. >> our country is going to hell. people don't understand that. hillary clinton doesn't have a clue. she can't do that. one of the things that is real bothered me, i think one of the

reasons i have such great support is that people, you take a look, people, the middle income groups are making less money today than they did 12 years ago. in her speech she said they are making less money. she's been there with obama for a long period of time. why hasn't she done anything about it? >> joining me now senator sherrod brown. senator, let me ask you this. i think of you as having a tremendously accurate finger on the pulse of ohio voters. you been reelected in that state. as senator you been elected statewide before. here is the polling. donald trump for hillary clinton in your state. 44-42. say for the moment this is very early and this doesn't necessarily mean what's going to happen in november. that said, what is the message that will resonate with the

voters that you know? >> i think once people start paying attention and they look at whom do they want to select for commander in chief. donald trump or hillary clinton. i think that's pretty telling to start with. i think hillary will wear well in the months ahead when she talks about the middle class, talks about trade, talks about jobs. i think trump won't. it will be offensive against muslims, mexicans african-americans. i think trump, hillary's message strengthens. i'm concerned, of course i'm concerned about trump.

i'm concerned what it says about our country. i'm concerned about the hate he's preaching. i think in the end ohio voters will start paying attention. they see a debate where you have two candidates, one smart leader, the other a demagogue and pretty sleazy when it comes to his business dealings. >> one of the things you mentioned when you talk about hillary as the possible nominee and this is a contested primary at this point. if it were to be hillary clinton, you mention middle class and trade. he's knocked the tpp which you strongly oppose. that was a deal partially negotiated for hillary clinton. bernie sanders opposes it. do you worry about him getting to hillary clinton's left on issues like nafta and the tpp and the trade deal particularly

with white voters in ohio? >> i think he brings a message well beyond trade. i don't think voters see left or right here. the telling point on trade was interesting. there are six candidates running for president. four of the six, are against tpp, which tells me that the country, the leaders are catching up with the voters. i'll be out there strong on trade for hillary. i believe hillary will negotiate a trade agreement. china deserves it. our trade negotiators deserve it more than china does. i think that people like me will help hillary strengthen her voice on this. i think she's in the right place. i think trump is so shallow on this issue as he is on every

other issue that he can't explain himself. >> this is important when you talk about being strong out there. you wrote a book about trade. they were win, win, win. you've been a long time critic of it. you're saying you stake your reputation, your credibility as fighting for this 20 years. you go to your voters confident if she were elected she would be in the right place on this stuff? >> i am confident. i talked to her. i'm confident she will be in the right place. i think the american public, just when you see other politicians talking about it, i think the american public will not stand for anything less from elected officials. that's why you see cruz doing this. that's why you see trump. i don't think trump or cruz are

fair traders. i think they are both free traders. i think hillary had mixed feelings about it before. i think she had the right sentiments. i think probably with bill clinton in the white house that had some impact on her for sure. i think she has seen that nafta didn't work. this is my opinion of her. not what she said to me about nafta. i think bill clinton's probably seeing that nafta hasn't worked well. i don't expect him to stand up publicly to talk about it that way. it's clear our trade policy and tax policy and the elites of this country have sold us short. i won't use the word betrayed. that's strong but they sold us short on trade an taxes and our place in the international economy. >> my question to you, there's two schools of thought of donald trump as the nominee. one is this guy will get creamed. he's gotten the highest on favorables. there's huge swaths of the country that wouldn't consider voting for the guy. the other is he's terrifying. he doesn't believe in anything

so he can say anything. which camp are you in? >> i'm more in former. i'd say we're going to beat him but we only beat him if we do what we need to do and headache make the contrast. i think the contrast between former secretary of state and showing the depth. when hillary and donald go to the debate, trump will lose his temper and show his sexism. he'll show his racism if he's a racist or just a demagogue. when it's one-on-one and 20 million people are watching or 50 million versus one of million with a few watching a debate and a few million go to the caucuses versus a hundred million, it's a whole different story. >> always a pleasure.

thank you. >> my pleasure. still ahead, as voters across the political spectrum rail against the establishestabl a story that shows why some democratic voters might not be so happy with their own party's establishment.

there's been a lot of talk about the republican establishment. a widespread anger at said establishment. here is a guess at what it might mean for the democratic party. here is debbie wasserman schultz. here is what she's up to lately. it involves something called payday loans. small, short term loans that are meant to be repaid on the next payday.

it's attractive to a worker living paycheck to paycheck. they are predatory. interest rates average 390% nationally. thanks to senator elizabeth warren in the obama administration, we have the consumer financial protection bureau. one of the missions is to create regulations to protect consumers against predatory lending like payday loans. congressman debbie wasserman schultz is proposing a bill that would gut the payday loan regulations. it would delay new regulations on payday lending by two years as well as nullify the rules in states that already have a law on payday lenders. states like florida. not that state law offers too much protection.

the problem is florida's law is a sham. it was backed by the industry. a spokesperson took exception to this saying as a state lawmaker she helped write florida's law that reduced the need to go to bad actors. that spokesperson said congresswoman sees bill as good for consumers. he also said that wasserman-schultz is not taking the lead but is a co-sponsor. getting into the details, it's safe to say that headlines are what might come to mind when democrats think about the divide between the establishment and the establishment base.

you know you can be nice. then you can be vicious. get out of here. they'll say you were too harsh. i've developed a nice, all right.

please get them out. >> donald trump at an event in portland, maine after his second round of ejecting protesters. the first round came 46 seconds into his speech. the act has become a ritual. we know it will happen. the only question are when and to whom. notably this week we found out the answer to that second question. it happened to people of color. people who may not have been protesting. we'll talk about what that means with a woman at that rally earlier this week in georgia and kicked out for being there before it even started. this just got interesting. why pause to take a pill? or stop to find a bathroom? cialis for daily use is approved to treat both erectile dysfunction and the urinary symptoms obph,

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over the past several months the trump campaign has become know tor yous for the treatment of protesters and press. repeated incidents of violence and harassment encouraged by donald trump himself. >> he's walking out, smiling laughing. like to punch him in the face. keep his coat.

get him out of here. the third group, i'll be a little more violent. the fourth group, i'll say get the hell out of here. >> the past week alone there's been several extremely disturbing incidents at trump events around the country. last week we showed you video of a woman pushed and yelled at including an avowed and white supremacist. we covered a time magazine reporter being slammed to the ground at a trump rally in georgia. at the same event around 30, mostly african-american students, were escorted out of there by local law enforcement. today, "all in" spoke to two students at the event. he told all in that the students were not protesting but attended the rally. he pointed to an e-mail he sent out expressing concerns which read in all caps.

this is not call to protest. we honor trump's first amendment right and do not wish to disrupt the rally. a snap chat on monday, the day the event reads if you're going to the plex today, please wear all black. business casual. 4:30 on the tennis courts. bring a book, headphones. that plan to vibe with everyone and not disrupt the event was cut short. before donald trump even went onto speak the students were approached by uniform local law enforcement and asked to leave. they were escorted out of event by several officers. the students we spoke to said they weren't doing anything to warrant being ejected. on tuesday trump said his campaign initiated the removal. >> i have nothing to do with it. i showed up. i didn't know anything happen. they wrote this vicious story. this is a paper that's an enemy

of ours with a write who are is horrible. they pick it up all over the play and say donald trump ordered them out. >> a trump campaign spokesperson denied the incident was initiated at the request of the candidate or the presidential campaign. now, the local law enforcement agencies told us a different story. "all in" spoke to the sheriff's department and the police department by phone. the captain said when asked why the officers approached that group of students, predominantly african-american in a trump rally, he said because a member of the trump event staff approached a member of our agency and requested the group be asked to leave. the chief said he spoke to a trump staffer, whose name i do not have, she told us they needed to leave. not only did i talk to a trump staffer, so did the campus police.

we were told the trump staff wanted them out. we followed up with the trump campaign and asked if they disputed the two statements. they responded by sending us an earlier state. the campaign had no knowledge of the incident it's not clear what false reports they are referring to. we'll speak to a young woman at the event and forced to leave, next.

he's smiling laughing. like to punch him in the face. get him out of here. keep his coat. tell him i'll send it to him in couple of weeks. the third group, i'll be a little more violent. the fourth group, i'll say get out of here. >> can you tell me why you decided to go to the trump rally in. >> i already planned to go to the rally with one of my friends so i can educate myself about the presidential candidates. you have to look at every aspect of the competition. i just wanted to see who donald trump really was. >> you were not planning on protesting in. >> not at all. >> what was it like inside the rally?

>> it felt really, really awkward. seeing donald trump has predominantly supporters. being in there felt like kind of like a needle in a hay stack. >> you felt very profoundly the fact you and your friends were predominantly african-american looked lot different than the typical attendees. >> yes. >> you were dressed in black. >> yes. >> what was that about? >> we wanted to look like a unit. if we came in regular clothes, people would be like they're a bunch of trump supporters. we wanted to be neutral about it. >> you wanted to send the message, we're not here as trump supporters. we're not here to disrupt. we don't like what trump has to say but we're going to be here and listen and take it what he has to say. >> not necessarily we didn't like what he had to say.

we were curious if everything he's saying is true is what we're seeing on tv and everything. >> did you feel like being among friends all together there was strength in numbers given you were in this huge rally where there weren't a lot of folks like yourself. >> yes, i felt more comfortable being with a group of people like me. >> what did the police tell you? >> i was in the second group that came up. by the time i got up into the spot we were going to stand, the first group of people had already turned around. they told us that the police had asked us to leave. >> did they give you any explanation of why you were being asked to leave? >> no. all they said is the trump campaign said that we had to go. >> the trump campaign. clearly the trump campaign spotted a large group of black students sitting together. it appears someone had gone to law enforcement and said we want those people gone? >> i'm guessing.

i don't know much detail about who ordered us. >> what was it like in terms of how the crowd reacted? i've seen shots you have being led out. it's a stark difference between the people who are being escorted out and the people who are at the rally. how did you feel being let out in front of everyone? >> it was uncomfortable. when we were getting ready to leave out the door while they were moving us through the door so we can leave, everybody with their eyes on us. they pulled their cameras out. they started putting their signs up chanting trump at us as if we were there to cause trouble. >> you felt like you got hostility as you were being let out? >> yes, sir. >> did it feel like you were being singled out because you

were black? you were a group of black students with a lot of white folks out in. >> not necessarily singled out but pre-judged. pre-judged most definitely. >> did you end up, you went there for some educational desire. do you feel like you learned something about donald trump. >> i really can't speak on that. i got put out before he showed up. i didn't learn anything about the man. >> thank you for telling your story. the rachel maddow show starts now. there's a lot going on tonight. president obama was in milwaukee, wisconsin. he was there to talk about big slew of people getting health insurance under obama care in that city. while he was having lunch, he was chatting with his lunch companions.

over the course of small talk he mentioned to one of them that after his time this president is over, he and his family might not leave washington. >> by next week winter will be over in d.c. i've been in chicago like here, basically, you can't really count on that until the middle of may. >> took a long time to get started this year too. >> it always feels good being closer to home. >> that's hawaii, though. >> feels really good to be there. >> hawaii is home for me. i spent almost 30 years in chicago, it's where i met michelle and where she grew up. where our daughterwe